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Fans expecting a close duel between the kings of men’s cyclocross, as we saw on Saturday at Flandriencross in Hamme, were treated to a first lap that quickly brought the cream to the top.

Then suddenly, they were deflated when Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) faced terrible misfortune by getting a flat tire early on into the event.

While he rolled on his rim to the pits, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was already nearly 30 seconds ahead of him by the time he got a fresh bike and tubular. Was the gap too large for even Van der Poel to recover? He did his best, closing to within 10 seconds, but then the lead stretched out past 20 seconds. Was he throwing in the towel, and saving his matches for Ostend Worlds?

Wout van Aert slid to race and series victory at the 2021 UCI Overijse Cyclocross World Cup. © Alain Vandeponteseele / Cyclocross Magazine

Wout van Aert slid to race and series victory at the 2021 UCI Overijse Cyclocross World Cup. © Alain Vandeponteseele / Cyclocross Magazine

While Van Aert rode nearly flawlessly up front, Van der Poel had one more surge left. He sprinted out of corners, bombed the downhills and sprinted up the cobbles. Suddenly, he was within 10 seconds and sight of Van Aert. Could we be in for a Tour of Flanders-style sprint?

Then, Van der Poel suffered a slip of the rear tire in an uphill, and struggled to gain back momentum while overgeared. That stretched the lead back to 13 seconds.

Van der Poel then slipped in another corner, and the gap was 20 seconds. And the elastic finally snapped. Another crash sealed the deal, and Van Aert was off to win the World Cup overall and hand Van der Poel another flat tire-cursed defeat.

Van der Poel finished in second, almost a minute after the Belgian champion.

“I’m very pleased with my third overall victory,” Van Aert said after the finish. “It’s also great to go with this mental victory into Worlds next week.”

Van der Poel was philosophical at the finish. “I think the flat tire was already too much,” said the World Champ at the finish. “Then I made a crucial mistake and then it was too hard to come back. But I think I can be satisfied with my race.”

The battle for third was a good one, with Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing) and Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwel Sauzen – Bingoal) locked for most of the race for the final podium spot, but Pidcock eventually dropped the Belgian to make a three-nationality podium.

American Curtis White (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) finished 22nd.

Full results below. See the results and report from the women’s 2021 Overijse Cyclocross World Cup here.

2021 World Cup Overijse Results: Elite Men

RankBIBRiderNationAgeResult
116VAN AERT WoutBEL271:05:57
21VAN DER POEL MathieuNED261:07:00
366PIDCOCK ThomasGBR221:08:04
418VANTHOURENHOUT MichaelBEL281:08:21
517AERTS ToonBEL281:08:46
62VAN DER HAAR LarsNED301:09:23
719SWEECK LaurensBEL281:09:32
83VAN KESSEL CorneNED301:09:38
920HERMANS QuintenBEL261:09:54
1021VERMEERSCH GianniBEL291:10:09
1125KIELICH TimoBEL221:10:22
124KAMP RyanNED211:10:32
1331KUHN KevinSUI231:10:41
1423MERLIER TimBEL291:10:58
158RONHAAR PimNED201:11:11
1624VANDEBOSCH ToonBEL221:11:17
175NIEUWENHUIS JorisNED251:11:19
1830VANDEPUTTE NielsBEL211:11:20
1957ORTS LLORET FelipeESP261:11:20
2022SOETE DaanBEL271:11:42
2167MEIN ThomasGBR221:12:17
2237WHITE CurtisUSA261:12:30
2312VAN DIJKE TimNED211:12:48
2462DORIGONI JakobITA23
2561BERTOLINI GioeleITA26
2632RÜEGG TimonSUI25
2711HENDRIKX MeesNED21
2826FERDINANDE AntonBEL21
2947DUBAU JoshuaFRA25
3040BOROŠ MichaelCZE29
3149DELBOVE JorisFRA21
3233MOTTIEZ GillesSUI24
3348GRAS YanFRA25
349VAN DER HEIJDEN MaikNED24
357GODRIE StanNED28
3634LILLO DarioSUI19
3714VERBURG LukeNED20
3858SUAREZ FERNANDEZ KevinESP27
3927WYSEURE JoranBEL20
4060CULLELL ESTAPE JofreESP22
4153JOT HugoFRA20
426VAN DER POEL DavidNED29
4313AGTERBERG KyleNED22
4463ULIK MatejSVK24
4535RYF JorisSUI24
4678BETTENDORFF LoïcLUX20
4741ŘÍMAN JakubCZE21
4810VAN DER MEER GosseNED26
4955MAINGUENAUD TomFRA21
5043MAYER DanielCZE24
5164GLAJZA OndrejSVK27
5236STEHLI FelixSUI21
5339VAN KEMPEN JulesUSA19
5479PRIES CédricLUX21
5544HULA RobertCZE21
5677HEIGL PhilippAUT28
5738ANDERSON JonathanUSA25
5842VANÍČEK ŠimonCZE22
5965KURTY JakubSVK24
6080ESSER MikLUX20
6176KAJI TetsukiJPN22
74WEBER SaschaGER33DNF
68TURNER BenGBR22DNF
69MASON CameronGBR21DNF